WGU D581 Task 2 HEALTH SCI | Verified Study
complete Solutions | A+ Graded | 2026 Updates |
100% correct
A. Describe the research topic you will explore.
I am going to research how being homeless limits access to health care, mental health care, and
preventative care for families with children even though they have health insurance. In addition
to providing research on what prevents families with health insurance from getting the health
care they need due to their homelessness, I will also investigate ways to increase health care
access for homeless families.
B. Identify three peer-reviewed research studies that support the topic described in part
A. Selected studies should be published in the last 25 years if appropriate for the topic.
Provide the following for each of the three research studies:
Study 1
1. Family Homelessness: State or Trait?
2. American Journal of Community PsychologyStudy 2
1. Universal Health Insurance and Health Care Access for
Homeless Persons
2. American Journal of Public HealthStudy 3
1. The Unmet Health Care Needs of Homeless Adults: A National Study
2. American Journal of Public Health
C. Summarize each of the three research studies identified in part B by doing the following:
Study 1: Family Homelessness: State or Trait? (Shinn, 1997)
, 1. The primary purpose of the research study was to find out whether homeless
families' homelessness was a result of environmental factors and therefore temporary or
whether it resulted from an individual's characteristics and therefore permanent, by
tracking 564 homeless families in New York City for five years.
2. The researchers found that homelessness is primarily a result of the environment
and therefore can be considered as a temporary condition since when 80% of these
families were given low-cost housing, all but two of them were able to maintain stable
housing for a period of at least one year. The authors stated that individual
characteristics such as level of education, substance abuse history, and mental illness did
not predict housing stability once housing subsidies were provided. Thus, the primary
reason that homeless families were no longer homeless was the provision of housing
subsidies and not their individual characteristics.
3. Based upon this study, homelessness can be considered as a housing issue and
not a personal deficit issue. Therefore, the barriers that prevent homeless families from
accessing healthcare can also be considered as structural issues and not individual
issues. Since the provision of housing resolved the families' homelessness, it is likely that
providing families with stable housing may help improve their healthcare access and
overall health.
Study 2: Universal Health Insurance and Health Care Access for Homeless Persons
(Hwang et al., 2010)
1. The researchers conducted this study to examine unmet healthcare needs and
barriers to healthcare access among homeless individuals in Toronto's universal health
insurance system to determine if universal coverage would ensure healthcare access for
homeless populations.
2. The results indicated that despite universal coverage, 17% of the homeless
participants reported unmet healthcare needs which was significantly higher than the
general population. Women who were homeless and had dependent children reported
unmet needs at twice the rate of the general population. The researchers found that
young age, physical assault victimization, and lower mental and physical health scores
predicted unmet needs. They concluded that although universal coverage eliminated
many financial barriers to healthcare, other non-financial barriers continue to exist
including transportation, competing survival priorities, stigma, and system navigation
challenges.
complete Solutions | A+ Graded | 2026 Updates |
100% correct
A. Describe the research topic you will explore.
I am going to research how being homeless limits access to health care, mental health care, and
preventative care for families with children even though they have health insurance. In addition
to providing research on what prevents families with health insurance from getting the health
care they need due to their homelessness, I will also investigate ways to increase health care
access for homeless families.
B. Identify three peer-reviewed research studies that support the topic described in part
A. Selected studies should be published in the last 25 years if appropriate for the topic.
Provide the following for each of the three research studies:
Study 1
1. Family Homelessness: State or Trait?
2. American Journal of Community PsychologyStudy 2
1. Universal Health Insurance and Health Care Access for
Homeless Persons
2. American Journal of Public HealthStudy 3
1. The Unmet Health Care Needs of Homeless Adults: A National Study
2. American Journal of Public Health
C. Summarize each of the three research studies identified in part B by doing the following:
Study 1: Family Homelessness: State or Trait? (Shinn, 1997)
, 1. The primary purpose of the research study was to find out whether homeless
families' homelessness was a result of environmental factors and therefore temporary or
whether it resulted from an individual's characteristics and therefore permanent, by
tracking 564 homeless families in New York City for five years.
2. The researchers found that homelessness is primarily a result of the environment
and therefore can be considered as a temporary condition since when 80% of these
families were given low-cost housing, all but two of them were able to maintain stable
housing for a period of at least one year. The authors stated that individual
characteristics such as level of education, substance abuse history, and mental illness did
not predict housing stability once housing subsidies were provided. Thus, the primary
reason that homeless families were no longer homeless was the provision of housing
subsidies and not their individual characteristics.
3. Based upon this study, homelessness can be considered as a housing issue and
not a personal deficit issue. Therefore, the barriers that prevent homeless families from
accessing healthcare can also be considered as structural issues and not individual
issues. Since the provision of housing resolved the families' homelessness, it is likely that
providing families with stable housing may help improve their healthcare access and
overall health.
Study 2: Universal Health Insurance and Health Care Access for Homeless Persons
(Hwang et al., 2010)
1. The researchers conducted this study to examine unmet healthcare needs and
barriers to healthcare access among homeless individuals in Toronto's universal health
insurance system to determine if universal coverage would ensure healthcare access for
homeless populations.
2. The results indicated that despite universal coverage, 17% of the homeless
participants reported unmet healthcare needs which was significantly higher than the
general population. Women who were homeless and had dependent children reported
unmet needs at twice the rate of the general population. The researchers found that
young age, physical assault victimization, and lower mental and physical health scores
predicted unmet needs. They concluded that although universal coverage eliminated
many financial barriers to healthcare, other non-financial barriers continue to exist
including transportation, competing survival priorities, stigma, and system navigation
challenges.
